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The Barn

June 29th, 2015 at 02:53 pm

I am at a loss as to what we should do.

As anyone who has followed my blog for any amount of time knows, raising animals to show at the local 4-H fair is a big part of my family's life. I raised and showed hogs and beef steers. DW raised and showed dairy heifers, sheep, and goats. Our kids raise and show dairy heifers, hogs, goats, and chickens.

Caring for and showing animals is a learning experience, the kids can make some money for college, and it keeps them busy. All good stuff.

Some of you may also remember that we raise these animals on my family's original farmstead that was settled in 1882. The animals are raised in a hog barn that was built in the 1950s. I'm not sure which year in the 1950s, but '52 or '54 seems right. Either way, it is an old building that has outlived its useful life by about 30 years, and it is falling apart.

If we want our kids to continue to raise and show animals, which we do, we need to do something with the building.

We could do anything from spending 80-100K to tear down, and completely rebuild a barn, to spending 40-50K for completely gutting, tearing down to the studs and rafters, and rebuilding, to spending 2.5-10K to put on a new roof, and gut the inside, and build new pens.

Clearly, we will choose something in the 2.5-10K range, but to do anything that will get us to where we need to be, we will probably need to be closer to the 10K end than the 2.5K end.

The pen doors are too narrow for the dairy animals. And even hogs are bigger than they used to be. A fair hog finishes out (is ready for slaughter) at 240-270 pounds now, and was more like 230-250 pounds when I showed in the 1980s.

The roof is original, with one layer of shingles. It must have been made with a quality shingle. It hasn't leaked yet, but it has outlived its useful life. To do anything to improve the guts of the building would be folly without putting on a new roof.

The pen walls and doors are falling apart. Fewer than half of the pens are useful at all. My dad and I have done some patchwork fixing along the way, but our patchwork is falling apart, because the wall and door foundations are not strong. We need to remove all of the old lumber that makes the pens and doors, and replace them with probably tube steel gates.

The original barn had a gutter system for manure removal. The gutter system has not worked for a very long time, and now only serves as a channel between the pens and central alley that is a danger for a broken leg on a $2,000 dairy heifer borrowed from my brother-in-law. The gutters should be filled in with concrete.

The hydrant has failed. Mid April through mid October, we hook up three hoses from the house to deliver water to the animals. The hoses are subject to leaking. In the winter time, we haul buckets from the house out to the barn. We need a frost-free hydrant in the barn.

The girls do have some money saved up from raising and selling animals in the past. It just seems wrong to say to them "Congratulations on all your hard work. Now buy yourself a new barn."

I've also thought that maybe we need to abandon this barn, and build something smaller from scratch in a different spot.

I'm not particularly handy with building things, and we have the boys with special needs that doesn't lend itself well to spending a lot of time outside near a construction zone.

So, there you go SA community. This is my conundrum. What say you?

5 Responses to “The Barn”

  1. laura/wife of the deacon Says:
    1435586966


    Well, it seems like you know what you need at a bare minimum for making the barn adequate. I imagine I would start with getting estimates to have the work done - hydrant, roof, and doors > how much do you think that would cost?

    Good luck getting everything done - I wonder if you could stagger the work before winter to spread out the outgo to accomplish it. If your girls were to offer something, I'd say accept 1/4 of what they offer. I bet they will offer something and take pride in their contributions. Smile

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1435587564

    I agree based on what you said that you do need something newer or different than you are working with. I'm just going to ask a series of questions to ponder in making the decision.

    Do you know how much it would be to build a smaller barn in a different spot? Would it be a metal building? Could you sell the older barn wood? What money do you have (separate from the girls money)? If you took out a loan what would your payments be? Could some profits from the girls go to help with payments. Would a newer building save you any costs you currently have on the old barn (I'm assuming fewer repairs)? Does a new barn add value to the farm?

    My concern is borrowing a lot of money that then doesn't outweigh the benefit. I'm not saying it won't, but it is just something to consider. If you borrow $40K for new or repairs does that create a $40K college benefit? And the benefit doesn't have to just be college.

    It's an interesting proposition. Definitely look at all scenarios for costs, pros and cons. What could be sold to make the purchase or repairs less expensive. Could you raise more livestock to sell to make the improvements worth it?

    Good luck, Bob! I look forward to hearing more about this.

  3. Kiki Says:
    1435596092

    Reclaimed wood is a hot commodity. Companies will come out and pay you for the wood which means no cost to tear down for you. Or if you update the inside sell what ever is pulled out. It is amazing how much you can get from the wood.

    In California people trespass on others' property to pull wood from old barns and houses.

  4. scfr Says:
    1435620382

    Unless promises were made as to what the girls could do with the money earned from raising and selling animals, using those funds to help with the barn repair could be an invaluable business lesson. People often focus only on what a business makes, and are completely unaware of the expenses. It seems you have a wonderful opportunity to educate them about how the real world works.

  5. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1435718565

    Is it worth shipping the lumbar to places where demand is high? I'm thinking even where I am! Sell to company that will come out and get it.

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